MOBILE, Ala. — The good news for the University of South Alabama football team as it attempts to end a three-game losing streak is that it enters this weekend’s contest coming off its lone open date of the season, giving many individuals within the program an opportunity to regroup and recover.
The bad? Up next for the Jaguars is a trip to defending Sun Belt Conference champion Arkansas State, which is coming off a 34-20 victory at preseason league favorite Florida International. Playing in its first-ever Sun Belt road contest, USA will meet the Red Wolves at 6 p.m. Saturday at Liberty Bank Stadium in Jonesboro.
The Jaguars enter play 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the conference, while ASU is 3-3 with a 1-1 league mark.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time. We were beat up,” Jag head coach Joey Jones said of the break. “Being nine-and-a-half weeks into it, counting fall camp, it came at a great time for our players and coaches after an emotional three games of playing N.C. State, Mississippi State and Troy.
“Arkansas State is a very good football team. I watched them play last Thursday at FIU, they went down there on the road and beat a very good team. Their losses have come to the likes of Oregon and Nebraska, so they are a very good football team. They’re very good on offense, and have a lot of juniors and seniors starting in their offensive and defensive lineups.
“They are a veteran team, and we expect them to be a great football team when we walk into the stadium.”
Trailing the Golden Panthers 10-7 with four-and-a-half minutes to go in the first half, ASU posted 27 of the next 30 points to break open the contest. David Oku ran for three touchdowns and Ryan Aplin scored another as the Red Wolves collected 421 yards of total offense while averaging seven yards per snap.
Aplin — the preseason Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year — has completed 119-of-194 attempts for 1,388 yards and eight scores, adding 243 yards and two touchdowns on the ground; he ranks third in the conference in both passing and total offense. Oku is fourth in the SBC with an average of almost 77 yards per contest rushing, having collected 460 yards on 103 carries, and he leads the squad with six touchdowns.
J.D. McKissic paces ASU with 39 receptions for 452 yards and Josh Jarboe has caught 28 passes for 287 yards, with both reaching the end zone on two occasions.
The Red Wolves lead the league with 232.2 rushing yards per game, and are also averaging 238.7 yards per outing through the air, standing third in the conference in total offense. They are posting 30.5 points per contest.
“I would hate to have known that we would have to have gotten ready in one week for what they’re doing,” Jones observed. “[Head coach] Gus [Malzahn] does a great job of changing things up and scouting himself. You can tell that he scouts himself well with their personnel groupings; they give you fits all over the field, both horizontally and vertically. They really make you play the whole field on defense, that’s probably the most difficult thing.”
Nathan Herrold has 52 stops, including four for loss, to lead the ASU defense and Qushaun Lee has supplied 43 stops, with the two combining to break up five passes. Tim Starson paces the team with six-and-a-half tackles behind the line of scrimmage, as ASU tops the SBC allowing 158.2 yards per game passing; the Red Wolves are last against the rush, however, giving up 218.7 yards on average on the ground.
USA’s offense is coming off a performance in its conference debut against Troy on Sept. 29 that included a season-best 193 yards rushing, with Demetre Baker collecting 62 yards on 16 carries to help spark that effort. He is among the top 10 in the SBC with nearly 60 yards per outing, and has led the Jag rushing attack in four of the team’s first five games.
Five Jaguar wideouts have caught at least 10 passes, led by Bryant Lavender’s 13 for 122 yards. Jeremé Jones has a team-high 160 yards on 12 receptions, while Corey Besteda and Greg Hollinger have 10 catches apiece for 144 and 135 yards, respectively. Junior transfer Ross Metheny, who has completed 34-of-59 passes for 354 yards and a score, was named the starting quarterback this week by Jones and his staff.
“We just felt like it was a move we needed to make for the offense,” he said. “We’re trying to find that identity in where we are, so I think that will help us with him getting more reps in practice. We think it’s going to help us [to name a starter]. We tried to let it pan out over the last five games, but I think it will help us just from the standpoint that they [offense] know that he [Metheny] is going to be the guy right now.
“We have not put a complete game together,” Jones continued. “We have a young offense; we started the season with two freshmen and five sophomores on the offensive unit. We have to get better, but it isn’t easy to get better when you’re playing the teams we are playing. We’re a better team than we were last year, but we’re playing much better competition right now and it just isn’t showing.
“We have to be able to stick the ball into the end zone. Defense and special teams are playing good enough to win, so if we can get that part going on offense then we’re going to get this thing rolling. But we have to get out there and get it done.”
Defensively, the Jags are paced by inside linebackers Jake Johnson and Enrique Williams. The former has recorded at least 10 stops in each of the last three outings, as he leads the league with 10.2 per contest; Johnson has also been credited with seven tackles for loss. Williams has made 41 stops including three behind the line, while Alex Page has collected a team-leading four sacks and Pat Moore has added 3½.
As a unit, USA is second in the Sun Belt allowing 350.2 yards per game overall, and is fourth giving up an average of 25.6 points per contest.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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